Have been on my umpteen re-read of my dog-eared Bandys of late and, while surfing the net on Bill Gates' face decided to drop in and see if Bart's latest escapade: reducing Stalin to gibbering idiocy/extreme apoplexy was ready yet. SO SAD to hear Don has gone! Having had several strokes myself, I can only hope it was quick for him.  Wouldn't like to revisit my own rehab on anybody.
Still 78 is not a bad age to go to the big Jamjahr in the sky.
When all is said and done, even after 20odd years, Don's divine description of English plumbing and it's impact on an unsuspecting Canuck never  fails  to leave me guffawing, spluttering and choking while drawing looks of utter incredulity from nearest and dearest! Who once had the brazen effrontary to suggest I was Bart in disguise minus those elegant equine features...bloody cheek! To suggest my not having the equine features I mean..

Now I find there was more than an element of our hero in his "inventor" from his affectionate obituaries!   Let us hope that enough manuscript was left to bring out Volume Nine.  Oddly though, I found Hitler-v-me was better 2nd time around than the first.  The only Bandy tome I have, not fit only for the Book rehab centre!

Glad to see there are other  Hitchhiker fans out there too. Well, they put that on the boob tube; Bandy's turn! I shall send a copy of Volume 1 to Auntie BEEB with the suggestion. Check out Tom Sharpe as well lads an lasses!

Now, finding a suitable thoroughbred with just the precise braying tone and hearing impairment voice qualities to bring our hero to life... not to mention the apoplectic top brass...fully prepped for immediate transport to the funny house...after a mere ten minutes of untramelled Bandyitis!

darn!  I have been looking for a site covering Donals Jack, and when I find it, he's gone!  I wanted to send him a letter of thanks for the years of laughs that he has provided me.  I also spent some of my cash supplying Bandy to people in my enthusiasm for his writing; spreading the word, you might say.  The copies that I have kept in my possession are truly dog-eared, so I am glad that they are being reissued.

I would like to offer my condolences to Mr. Jack's family, their loss is certainly shared by his fans.

As a individual always fascinated by aviation, it was the picture on the front of a paperback book (probably in a W H Smith somewhere) that made me buy my first Bandy volume more than 25 years ago. Fortuitously it was the the first volume in the series and I remember how surprised I was when, expecting a hopefully readable story of the RFC, I found myself reading the funniest book of my life. I immediately searched for the other volumes and found the next two. My searches for the remainder were thwarted by claims of "out of print". Then came the internet and I have now read everything up to Me So Far. God Bless you, Donald, for making me laugh, for creating characters for whose loss I have felt more grief than many a real person. My belated, but sincere, sympathy to your family. May you rest in peace disturbed only by laughter from those who continue to read your books.

Thanks Don, The world will be a much poorer place without you and Bart!

So long

A.J. Kelly

Became acquainted with the Bandy Papers years ago and have read each one numerous times as well as introducing them to several others including 3 of my brothers whose reaction was much the same as mine. As a military history nut I've always felt that Donald Jack was among the great ones in his ability to protray the futility of war in a humourous manner.

I only just became aware of his death while doing a search to introduce yet another reader to his wonderful books.

Does anyone know if donald jack was in marin co. calif. in 1956?  Did he know Maryanne Tulley Ashley?

Donald Lamont Jack was my Uncle, my name is Martin Nicholas Lamont jack, my father is Robert Murdoch Jack. I am in Edmonton Alberta, and on Facebook. As far as I know, my uncle was in Toronto in 1956.